Plexus Cotton Ltd. vs. Dan Mukunthan – CA 1865/2005-2012

The case between Plexus Cotton Ltd. and Dan Mukunthan addressed the issue of whether the District Judge of Colombo’s refusal to register a foreign default judgment (from the High Court of England) should be set aside, particularly in relation to service of summons and compliance with the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Ordinance. It was held that the District Judge erred by delving into the merits of the underlying dispute instead of confining consideration to the statutory requirements for registration. The principle reaffirmed was that when registering a foreign judgment, the court is limited to examining compliance with statutory prerequisites and is not empowered to revisit the underlying merits. Reliance was placed on provisions of the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Ordinance